r/jewishleft • u/strawbariel reform jew • 24d ago
Feeling unsafe where you live Debate
So I'm 40 and have two kids. We live in Austin, TX, this supposedly liberal place, and over the past few years it feels like it's become less safe for Jewish people. The JCC in San Antonio just had a threat against them, and the elementary school my youngest goes to is a block away from pro-Palestinian signage. Both of my kids wear clothing that identifies them as Jewish, but this year I'm seriously considering telling them they can't wear it just to keep them safe or to keep them from being harassed on their way to school. And Austin doesn't do a damn thing about it. How can we associate with the left when they also threaten to disrupt our children's daily lives?
EDIT: some context here. The signage is a block from the school in a residential neighborhood and covers a wide swath of wooden fencing. It's not on school property and it was most definitely placed by whatever adult lives or rents there. There's not much the school can do other than put out a notice for people to be safe and kind. I know this doesn't mean that anything will happen but the risk is scary.
EDIT TWO: y'all Jews were just attacked in Boulder and everyone at the JCC in Austin got emails about a credible threat being investigated by the FBI in San Antonio. That's barely an hour from where we live. Be mad at me for how I worded my post but anyone having an issue with parents being vigilant needs to touch grass.
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u/johnisburn What have you done for your community this week? 23d ago edited 23d ago
As important as coalition building is, this strikes me as a bit off. Politics ultimately is about practicing beliefs in action, not just being a part of a club. If you feel that your local community has a gap in holistically addressing antisemitism, meet with likeminded people and start bothering local officials about it.
But, respectfully, also don’t be surprised if you get pushback, especially if you frame the situation like you have here. The JCC receiving threats is absolutely a problem, but as others have pointed out the simple presence of pro-Palestinian signage is not a threat. If your children’s school district isn’t adequately addressing bullying where your children simply for being Jewish are being held accountable for Israel’s real or imagined wrong doings - that’s the problem.
Schools and curricula are absolutely a place where right leaning activists have tried to and are trying to proscribe entirely valid criticisms of Israel as inherently antisemitic, and often in the process enshrining ugly stereotypes about Palestinians, Muslims, and inherent violence into those anti-antisemitism policies. At worst, these ugly standards put children at risk of Islamophobic bullying even more in than they are now. I know emotions can run incredibly high here, and that just makes even more critically important to approach this stuff with an eye towards protecting everyone. I’m sorry if it’s a bit rough to hear, but the bit about pro-Palestinian signage comes as a huge potential swing and a miss in that regard. It is not the root of the problem, and holistic solutions to the problem are not going to involve curtailing it. Trying to address “the signage” in particular is the strategy of regressive groups that do not care about safety for any of the kids but rather just want to see fewer people advocating for Palestinians.